Kochi has distinguished itself as an exemplar city for promoting seamless public transportation in urban areas, says Union Minister
Kochi: Nov 4, 2022
Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri today said that Kochi was the apt choice for hosting the 15th edition of the Urban Mobility India  Conference and Exhibition 2022 as it had distinguished itself as an exemplar city for promoting seamless public transportation in urban areas. He said that the objective of the Conference was to create a system that encouraged people to switch from personal vehicles to public modes of transport. It aligned with the Centre’s objective of ‘moving people rather than vehicles’, he added.
Shri Hardeep S. Puri and Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan jointly inaugurated the Conference that is being organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in collaboration with the Govt. of Kerala from 4th to 6th November, 2022 at Hotel Grand Hyatt. Senior officials from the Central and State Governments, policy makers, Managing Directors of Metro Rail Companies, Chief Executives of transport undertakings, International experts, professionals, academicians and students are participating in the Event.
Acknowledging the incorporation of best practices/learning from other countries in the country’s Urban Mobility Systems, Shri Hardeep Puri said that we were able to learn from the experiences of other countries. The metro line systems functional in the country took advantage of the best practices from others. The current process of indigenization would enable India to share its experiences with other countries placed at the same level in the development ladder, he added.
Touching upon the rapid progress of Indian Metro lines in the global context, the Minister said that as on September 2022, 810 kms of metro line were operational in 20 cities and a network of more than 980 kms and RRTS was currently under construction in 27 cities. India currently had the fifth-largest metro network in the world and would soon overtake advanced economies such as Japan and South Korea to have the third-largest network. These developments would lead to a significant reduction in traffic congestion and emissions concerns and an improvement in air quality.
The Minister congratulated Kochi Metro for the innovative Water Metro project in the city which would connect 10 islands through 15 routes and cater to a daily ridership of more than 100,000 people across 78 kilometres of network. Water Metro would provide a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to daily commuters as inland water transport was inherently more energy efficient than road and rail transport, he added.
The Union Minister also reiterated the commitment to have efficient and green transportation systems in urban areas to achieve the honourable Prime Minister’s ‘Panch Pran’ target. As nearly 50% of the population would be living in urban areas by 2047, the expansion of urban mobility was imperative for India to become a developed country by then. Therefore, he suggested that a roadmap must be prepared to achieve the desired level of development in urban transport.
The Union Minister also said that the country was all set to achieve 20% bio fuel blending within the next 2 years as against the 2030 target for achieving the same. 10% biofuel blending had resulted in a savings of Rs 40,000 crs for the country last year.
Noting that 60 million people go to petrol pumps every day for refuelling their vehicles, he said the country's fuel consumption of 5 million barrels of crude oil per day is likely to rise to 7 million barrels per day within the next few years. The Minister said that the global growth rate of fuel demand was 1% while that of India was about 3%.
Addressing the inaugural event through video conferencing, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the state government was keen on transforming the public transport system in the entire state and stressed on the need for making it equitable, affordable and sustainable.